Social media rule number one : Know thy network

Social media rule number one: Know thy network

Many businesses are scared to be online. They fear the adverse power of social media and online communications. An open two-way channel is indeed more difficult to control than the one-way TV, radio and newspapers where customers will eventually comment but the editorial team will decide which comment to accept and which one is better to delete. But what can happen online and why the fear? Well the truth is that everything can happen online and damage a brand. Businesses that took years to work their image and message can see all their efforts destroyed in some days, with a simple comment on Facebook. Conflicts and crises happen every single day on social networks. 

At the same time companies know that they don't have a choice to eventually get online and hope for the best if they want to survive in a competitive market. So what can they do about it? 

Well first of all it is important for businesses to know that A LOT can be done to prevent, limit and control online problems, especially conflicts and crises. 

Rule number one that I always tell my clients is KNOW YOUR NETWORK. Know your Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, etc. network. This is easier said than done, but it is the most important thing your business must know online. Knowing your network doesn't mean how many ''LIKES'' your business has on Facebook or ''TWEETS'' on Twitter. Knowing your network means to ask yourself the right questions about your network. Here are some examples: 

1) Who are my online customers?

2) Do I have a community, a sub-community?

3) How is information shared in my network?

4) Who are the leaders of my network?

5) etc. 

When I did a quick survey, not even 1 out of 20 online businesses could answer one of those questions about their online community. We all know that knowledge is power so if you don't know your network how can you prevent conflicts and crises in that same network?

If you have questions or comments you can also contact us or visit the official eRelations website at erelations.info. 

Gamification : Engaging is fun

Lately, marketers don't know what to do anymore to reach customers. There are thousands of them selling SEO, PageRanking, affiliations and cheap publicity. The same message over and over again about metrics, numbers, money and products. Well at some point e-marketing seems to be losing its appeal. It seems boring, no-fun and old. Gamification is a new way of engaging. It makes engagement fun, it makes engagement easy and most of all it gives a fresh start to an old-fashioned brand. More and more evangelists are talking about engaging. Which means give more power to the customer and bring him/her to participate actively online. 

Then the next question some strategists began to ask was : How do we engage people online? Seems to us we have been doing that for years through social media campaigns and our other services. Obviously most of those online campaigns didn't reach their target and bring in new customer or make more loyal the ones we already have. 

Engaging is not about doing things the same way but saying we do something different. To really engage customers online you have to change and transform the way your company is doing business. For example you cannot say you are an engaging company just because you sell your products on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. You are becoming an engaging company because customers feel that they really want to participate, give their opinions and you as a business LISTEN to what they have to say. They feel a sense of belonging. 

Gamification is a way of using game elements in new and creative ways to interest people to what your business has to offer. Gamification uses elements like points, badges and leaderboards among other means to make people excited about a brand and especially see that it can be fun to participate, to collaborate with others and to talk about a product in an engaging and creative manner. 

ORCM Architecture Model Transcendence, part 3

ORCM Architecture Model Transcendence, part 3: Diffusion-based limitations override

(source: http://erelations.info/orcm-architecture-model-part-3/)

Relations created online have some advantages over «offline» relations, at least in a business context. Such an advantage is the massive scale of a message dissemination.

Whereas in the early stages of the history of humanity a message could be distributed to more than one person it was difficult to do and involved someone to write the message (most people could not write since they did not have the required education), someone to deliver the message (sometimes you also needed a horse, donkey or a damn camel), as well as someone to read it (most people could not read). It also involved material resources and in most cases it stopped right there (there were no Costco or Staples to sell you 10,000 pages + printer bundles back then, remember?). All those factors combined contributed to a fairly limited level of message distribution, which progressed quickly when large numbers of people gained access to education, printing methods were developed, etc.

But there were still many limitations to large-scale message distribution. Those limitations are to a large degree abolished now on a worldwide scale. This is mainly because with the advent of online communications you still need someone to write the message (most people can write since they possess the required education), someone to deliver the message (all you need is a pc, smartphone, etc.), as well as someone to read it (most people can read, although they may not be «at the same level»). It does not involve much material resources, since all those great businesses have put in place cloud-based IT infrastructures so all you guys may write and propagate all sorts of content through their servers and application interfaces, email servers and social networks, this mostly with no charge, which is of course wonderful!

The downfall of the democratization of the writing process is that your piece about socio-politically derived gender-influenced perception of Dali's works may be lost in a massive influx of information from which it will appear as no more than a drop lost in a sea of not particularly significant data (marketers will at this point roll their eyes will muttering «SEO», but that's another story altogether on which countless posts were already devoted). Think of it this way: if there were millions of papyrus scattered around the earth and you could pick some from the trash around the corner (or buy a thousand papyrus for 11.99$ from you-know-where), most likely nobody would care about this one piece of papyrus, right? So the staggering numbers of posts, blogs, tweets and various electronic pieces of literature do cause a loss of uniqueness; no one really cares about a particular, individual electronic writing unless it combines several factors such as significance, being directed towards a particular niche, excellent writing skills, etc. The overall quality of a post may then increase its potential for persistence in the cosmic cloud of Web-based I/O (input/output) interactions.

But one particular trait of capitalistic societies (which is fine overall, of course) is to capitalize (duh!) on any activities of said society. Online communications are no exception to this rule, even more so in recent years with millions of new users having gained access to the Net (that means a huge market share is potentially available). In order to profit from this increase in online population content will be created for the specific purpose of generating interest for brands and products. For the content to be seen by a significant number of folks, techniques & methods will be developed to trick search engines to consider as significant something that would otherwise be discarded as spam or insignificant. There you have it: content quality will be lost to the power of money. And with more and more bots pushing product/brand-based generic content on blogs/social networks through automated processes there is a risk that social media will lose some of its potential for communicating, interacting and sharing precious knowledge with others. You know, the «social» part of social media? Or we could re-label all that brand media...

Well like they say, 'nough said: that's it for your fave blog series; we will leave the ORCM Architecture Model Transcendence trilogy on this apocalyptic note.

ORCM Architecture Model Transcendence, part 2

Persistence-based limitations override

(source: http://erelations.info/orcm-architecture-model-part-2/)

ORCM Architecture Model Transcendence, part 2: Persistence-based limitations override

Relations created online have some advantages over offline relations, at least in a business context. Such an advantage is transcendence over persistence-related limitations.

Throughout its history humanity used two main forms of communications: speaking and writing (there is also sign language but it is used on a smaller scale). The former can have a powerful timely impact but its relevance fades over time, while the latter tends to retain a greater degree of importance throughout the years. For example, tribal cultures with exclusively oral-based traditional knowledge tend to fade away while cultures based around writing-based knowledge thrived. This is simply based on the fact that sounds are invoked than disappear while written forms of communication remain by default (although they do disappear when we shred/burn the piece of paper it is displayed on, etc.). But even that rule is changing now as online websites/sharing software/social networks (YouTube and all) are introducing the concept of massive distribution/dissemination of oral communications. Still, the oral form of communication is harder to control than the written form; for example SEO functions are based on written words and the software is not able to scan for spoken words (well surely some guys are drilling down this stuff as I write so it should revolutionize online marketing practices soon to the immense joy of SEO-obsessed marketing capitalists). Could a dying/dead native language be saved/brought back to life through social media propagation then? Why not.

Online relations do not really introduce the concept of an «eternal» communication, as those already existed in one way or the other. For example, the Egyptian papyrus are dated thousand years old and still exist today; those drawings on some cave wall could also be considered early forms of communication (maybe there were a bunch of keywords in that drawing, who knows). We could then assume that there can be a form of persistence regarding traditional forms of communications (writing, drawing, folkloric songs, etc.). Social media just does that in a gigantic, enormous scale. Those Egyptian papyrus were «managed» by kings (pharaohs, tsars, or their equivalent), i.e. only the elite of society could read and then write. Even when having acquired the knowledge of writing one would still have to gain access to proper tools and materials to engrave writing into stone. Whereas a handful of people controlled written communications around that time, today almost anyone can gain access to a device (pc, tablet, smartphone, gaming console, etc.) that will enable her or him to post something in the cloud, where it will exist and stay «alive» for everyone to see (well, potentially lots of people), this for an unlimited time (in theory).

But there is no magic there. Although fairly improbable, let's say there is a revolution/war/insurrection of some kind where Taliban-like figures seize power on a worldwide scale. They could then judge the online world as too hard to control, perceive it as a potential threat that enables people to collaborate, acquire and diffuse knowledge, evolve and take part in such similar, evil-inclined activities. To make it short those guys decide to «destroy the Net». They go to where cloud servers of ABC Inc. are located and blow them up, destroy those big cables under the sea, block all power sources and force us to cut wood and burn it to survive the cold months, etc. So there you go, all this social media stuff is gone. Yes, it will not happen but the mere fact that this kind of scenario is technically possible to some degree just serves as a reminder that underneath all this unfathomable online 2.0 magic you still need an IT infrastructure.

Part 3 (final part) of this thematic dissertation will discuss diffusion-based limitations related to online VS offline communications.

ORCM Architecture Model Transcendence, part 1

ORCM Architecture Model Transcendence, part 1

ORCM Architecture Model Transcendence, part 1: Time zone & localization-based limitations override

(source: http://erelations.info/orcm-architecture-model-part-1/)

Relations created online have some advantages over «offline» relations, at least in a business context. Such an advantage is transcendence over timezone-related limitations.

First off, this type of relations can be maintained/managed 365, 24/7: for example, your ABC social network app will notify you of posts related to you, even if those were invoked in the middle of the night while you were sleeping. You may also post while you are sleeping, as automation tools such as Buffer and numerous others enable one to schedule posting activities in the future; this can facilitate over-the-clock social network feeds and reaching out to potential followers/customers in different countries/time zones, etc. Those type of 2.0 tools (interface-based, user-friendly IT tools that do not require any particular IT expertise) can transcend material/physical constraints as they open a new world of networking possibilities, of which we do not know yet the 100% full reach.

«Physical/material» type of communications, such as regular mail, do not run 365, 24/7 as there are many constraints associated with traditional communications. Those online, «non-material» communications can then also be managed through software-generated interfaces, enhancing productivity and usability. There are physical constraints in some ways though: if your internet connection is down; if your electronic mail service is down; if your website hosting provider is down; if there is a power outage where you are located; etc. Also, people forget that the cloud is not magic: instead of being physically located on your own computer your files are stored physically on someone else's computer/server. Which means if this guy goes down, your files go down too...

Most likely Google/Apple/IBM/Microsoft/Facebook/Dropbox/etc. servers will not go down for a long period of time but there is no absolute certainty whatsoever over those matters. Nonetheless, even though online+cloud is not a synonym for godly perfection it still is much, much superior in its overall efficiency and availability than trad communications. And think of it: a Web server won't go on strike, while trad comm workers may eventually do so (automation WIN).

Another positive aspect of online comms is the relative lack of relevance of one's localization. You could be in India and follow the Twitter account of a US-based user. Traditional comms would involve complications, additional fees, etc. in order to establish and maintain a relation/communication between someone based in India with a US-based individual (although possible). Again, since online comms are less material-dependent than offline comms there are a fair share of limitations which can be ignored in the context of such relations & communications. Still, it is important to note that online comms do necessitate a proper telecom infrastructure, of course (you still need the Net). Also, by relative we want to point out that some applications, apps and devices are localization-based (such as Foursquare and similar apps/social networks). So, simply by being localization-based those type of apps introduce physical-based limitations to relations & communications established in the online realm. But that is what they intend to do, i.e. duplicate the physical, localization-based limitations of the offline world into the online world (concept of proximity-based relationships). Kind of ironic if you think about it.

So, apart from introducing the possibility of transcending physical limitations related to traditional communications, online relations do not cease to exist once completed as they might stay alive somewhere in the cloud, where they can be seen by flyers looking out the window of a magnificent blue Web sky... We will further elaborate into this aspect of online comms in part 2 of this thematic dissertation. 

Natural-Born Online Gurus

Natural-Born Online Gurus

They are household names like Brian, Mary, Seth, Chris, etc. They are a new kind of thought leaders. They are called social media gurus, online marketing prophets or engagement evangelists. Some of their followers have all their work (eBook, tweets, blogs,etc.) and believe everything they say. One of my friends called Brian Solis a G-O-D.

More than money or notoriety they have something that people want : it's called
P-O-W-E-R. They may seem cool, sociable, next door guys but still they do think before writing their next blog or tweet that 140 line that may damage their online reputation. Like any thought leaders people have to be careful, not to get carried away by meaningful sentences or powerful words.

Like other thought leaders Freud, Marx, Gandhi, etc. they have a responsibility to protect their followers and we have a responsibility to keep our critical sense in regard to all that is said and done online.

It's not easy to be a thought leader, an online guru. Some people are born with incredible qualities to communicate, to connect and to interact with other human beings. But that is not enough.

To become an online prophet you have to:
--- adapt your natural qualities, competence, style to an online audience
--- learn from your audience, to be an online leader you have to be a listener 
--- clear thoughts, simple words and short sentences
--- a true ''socializer'' and ''connector''
--- you have to be your biggest fan!

The future belongs to people who are able to build groups, community and mobs online with a powerful and meaningful online presence that gives them the opportunity to connect and gather through ideas, opinions and values. 

Transforming reality through corporate vision

Transforming reality through corporate vision

People are born and eventually come of age and pass away. This is not necessarily the case with corporate entities. Those strange forms of life may survive through one main aspect: the vision located at the core of their heart; one could say that the corporate vision is the soul of a corporation, the principle governing its behavior pattern adopted through various roles and situations.

A strong corporate vision is not based exclusively on reality: it transforms, creates reality... It may not care – or want to care... - that you perceive it as being disconnected from "facts on the ground"; acknowledging a perception that would differ from the corporate vision may be undesirable, since it may then prevent the corporate vision from becoming a reality. Hence a too strong focus or obsession with reality may not help a vision take shape and subsequently materialize. On the contrary, being "open" to a perception that is compatible with the corporate vision could help it become a reality; thus adopting a particular attitude of desiring to conform to the corporate vision can contribute in transforming the "real world". And then, the corporate vision will become real: "facts on the ground" will be aligned with said vision and will thus be perceived as more true/natural and less as an artificial perception based on a distorted viewpoint.

This process, which could be akin in some aspects to an organized form of systemic brainwash/propaganda, is not necessarily negative in its inherent nature, though: it strives to achieve perennity of the corporation through dissemination of its vision, i.e. "business culture", in order to convert, dominate, gain strength. Ethics of behavior is not particularly relevant in the case of a corporate entity (other than for image-building purposes) since its primary will is to never cease to exist; it will then take actions required to assure its ultimate sustainability and survival; the moral aspect of activities undertaken to this effect is a human element while corporations are not human, even though they are created and managed/controlled by humans (like, for example, an animal being directed by a human does not make said animal become a human itself). It could then be assumed that corporations are governed through different sets of rules than individuals.

A corporate entity that would never fail to regenerate and propagate its core vision could, in theory, "never die" and survive eternally.

Conflict resolution skills for Social Media

Conflict resolution skills for Social Media

Lately I came across this great article about the importance of conflict management on Twitter.

http://www.twitip.com/manage-twitter-conflict/

Companies tend to hire marketing professionals to manage their social media accounts. They often think about the product and the selling and less what happens when there are crisis and conflicts on their social media platforms. If you hire a community manger make sure he or her has the skills to manage problems when they appear. Waiting and seeing is not the good strategy. Just like any conflict a misunderstanding on a social platform tend to get big very fast. The BIG difference is that is can get to thousands of followers in seconds and eventually take your brand down. 

First thing to do? Well be sure as a company that the person in charge of your social media accounts has some experience with conflict management, crisis management and understands the importance of great customer relations (even more on social media platforms). If not get them as soon as possible a class on how to manage crisis and conflict on social media. For more information you can go to our website erelations.info and contact us to discuss the different possibilities. Or find other crisis & conflict specialists that specialize in social media platforms.

Source: erelations.info/conflict-resolution-skills-for-social-media

Quality VS Quantity

Every worker, business or organization is at one point at the crossroads between quality and quantity.

- For a worker that gets asked to deliver more and more within an unreasonable time-frame it may mean sacrificing the quality he was used to be proud of in the past. Therefore it could mean a lesser degree of satisfaction pertaining to her or his career, more stress, a lesser quality of life, etc. It may be good for the organization, though, that could see profits increase.

- For a business it can mean offering products/services of a lesser quality in order to keep up with a market in which consumers ask for cheaper products & services. It can also help increase profitability.

- For other type of organizations (NGO/non-profits, etc.) it may mean helping more people but in a less considerable way.

We could be inclined to qualify this as a new “tyranny of numbers”, i.e. workers, products/services, organizations being judged on their performance exclusively through numbers, hence quantity over quality. Of course it is not a bad thing in itself, since a form of measurement enables control over activities. But quality is harder to judge; writing 5 tweets could be easier than 1 meaningful post, for example… There are no engines that can analyze a text, extract its meaning and rate its relevance and significance in a a particular context. Not yet. Some individuals or organizations are probably working on this as we write, though.

At eRelations we think that quality and quantity can be compatible but not necessarily in the same services. We focused on quality-oriented services up to now but will bring forth some new services soon that will be more aimed on quantity. Thus we will have 2 distinct branches of services, one more quality-oriented, the other more quantity-oriented. Both will be compatible with our business culture.

Tell us what you think!

eRelations @ C2-MTL

C2-MTL EVENT

C2-MTL Website : http://c2mtl.com/

We were invited at the C2-MTL event on Friday May 25th. We were lucky because the ticket price for this 3 day event was 3200$. It was an event centered around start-ups, commerce and creativity and how those ingredients work together to achieve success. Some major Canadian stars were present like Julie Payette (the astronaut) and Guy Laliberté (Cirque du Soleil).

My honest opinion was that it was all about the glitters, the stars, the marketing, the shows and the place more than about the content. I went to a conference called the Start Up Mindset and then to a Question Period with some panelists. Well Julie Payette didn't seem very comfortable especially about the internet or start-up themes and was referring to her experience in space with no apparent link to the context of the conference... In space it is difficult to be creative especially when the spaceship has a technical problem and a detailed list is telling you what to do!

The Start Up team with Tara Hunt, Marc Gingras and Sylvain Carle was interesting. 

You could see that these people had a hands-on experience about this kind of business and the very real risk of failure. Still this part of the conference ended too soon (20-25 min) leaving the audience asking for more!

In perspective we had a very nice day at the C2-MTL event but would like to have more people who deal with the harsh reality of an eBusiness, a start-up or a social media website. It is through collaboration that we can learn from our mistakes and exchange valuable information to get our project further!

eRelations @ WebCom

eRelations were at the WebCom event on May 16th, 2012. Here is a short clip with eRelations' V.P. Monica Voicu.
***
eRelations étaient présents l'événement WebCom le 16 mai 2012. Voici une courte séquence vidéo avec Monica Voicu, V.P. de eRelations.

Data extraction from online social connections

Data extraction from online social connections

Lately I am reading Micheal Troiano's blog. A lot of SRM (Social Relationship Management) entries.

http://scalableintimacy.com/salesforcecom-twitter-is-not-social-relationship-management/

Very interesting, but a sense of fear. SRM seems to be the future but as many innovative things it can go into the wrong hands and shatter the equilibrium brought by online interactions. Data can be extracted from social connections and used by marketing companies to profile customers and learn more than they would never learn just by surveys. The truth is we are already there. Most of the start ups feed peoples' online relations to retain more data, more interactions and more participation. And online participation means power.  As a start up the more people connect through your channel and exchange the more power you got. All start ups know that. By empowering people online you empower your eBusiness to succeed. 

As relations offline, online relations have some main characteristics:


---- Are based on communication and mostly written communication

----- Are powered by participation (e-empowerment)

---- Information exchange

---- Knowledge sharing

---- Emotions triggered by powerful words

---- Instantaneous connections

---- Sense of anonymity that triggers desire to connect

Online relations & communications 21st century pure gold

Online relations & communications 21st century pure gold

Online interactions, relations and communications are rich of data. Very rich of information, that can be useful for any organization or business. 95% of that data is yet informal. No measure, no analysis, no compilation. Yet it is wasted. All the richness is lost so we need surveys, marketing, etc. to try to know what can be known and measured directly online. Pure gold yet there are not many gold-diggers yet. Measuring and analyzing online interactivity through the web 2.0 tools and the network science is a challenge that will sooner or later be conquered by large companies. 

Rendering at least 20% or more of that informal data accessible. This will empower businesses to do more, to know more and to access directly to their employees online interactions. Learn who are your online leaders, find the SME (subject matter expert) you need in your own organization, learn who influences who and why, etc. Still we have to make sure that so much data won't be used to spy on people and destroy our society by the uprising of a BIG Brother civilization where our online activities become a way of containing the freedom of speech and refraining our individual choices. 

"Knowledge is Power". And knowing that every one of our online activities and interactions can be used, analysed and compiled is essential to the survival of our modern society.

Social media tools are based on online relations

Social media tools are based on online relations

Nowadays the main use of social media seems to be about marketing. The truth is that social media tools are supposed to be first of all relational tools. Connect people and make them participate and communicate. That is the reason that they are called SOCIAL. It is not MARKETING MEDIA but SOCIAL MEDIA. What happened? Well one day a social media guru came along and saw the opportunity to make money. Plain and simple. A lot of money. Use online connections not as tools to make people connect or collaborate but to make them buy a lot of stuff.

I used Facebook from the beginning and it felt a like free space to communicate, exchange and connect. Now I feel like something is lost. More spam, more products, more visual pollution. Less interest in the people connected on Facebook than on the products businesses are selling. Can we get the SOCIAL back in the media? Is it lost forever?

Here at eRelations we want to do things differently by caring more about the people than the products. Because we believe that the online space needs to be fun, engaging and empowering. It allows people to connect and exchange about what is important to them. eRelations is a people first company and cares about online communities. 

Why consultants need web 2.0

Why consultants need web 2.0

I look around me and wonder why consultants, lawyers, accountants , etc.don't use the web 2.0 tools in their businesses. A lot of them don't even use social media while others struggle to do a lot with very little time. Well TIME is one of the things that you can save with web 2.0. TIME and MONEY. Less paper, less hardware, less space, less software costs...and more organization, more effectiveness, more clients and a BONUS in a very competitive market, more relations online and offline.

More relations mean more customers, more time means a better quality of service and more money means a growing business. Web 2.0 is easy to understand. Have the right online tools to engage your customers and to empower yourself and your business  Welcome to the 21 st century, the era of online empowering tools easy to use to simplify your life while connecting with others. 

Participation & Collaboration IS 2.0

I hear a lot about the technical aspects of upgrading an individual or an organization to a 2.0 level/state, etc. There are lots of features on social media tools, and how to use them for business purposes to strengthen a brand, etc. 

We are beginning to see more and more ads in main social networks and this trend does not show any signs of losing steam. What I fear is that a couple years ago we had intranets of a private nature, now social media is generally open to the public, and if the marketing aspect becomes too strong, perhaps individuals and organizations will go back to private networks and isolate their information stream from the general public in order to cut themselves from the "spamming", i.e. automation of "user-generated" content. 

That will be a blow to the internet in its inherent nature: transparent and free. But some would say the the Web is becoming more and more like TV: more ads & control, less freedom.

What I would like to see is the focus remaining on what seems like the most important aspects of social media: participation & collaboration. The interactive nature of social networks is best when genuine; let's not spoil that through automated content-generation processes and programmed functions. Or can it be done while keeping control over content quality? Interesting topic...

Relations online = Relations offline (Not true)

Online relations are different from offline relations. Most of the time your relation begins online yet you have never met that person face to face. Online relations have a direct link with your capacity to communicate online and to put the right words on your emotions. When you communicate online and the purpose of your communication is to nurture a relation just stop and think before you write. Think about what you want, what you feel and the nature of your online relation. Think that words are eternal and will travel online at the speed of light. Think that maybe you will never meet that person offline but yet you need to feel that strong connection and that powerful interaction. FEEL online.

Managing Human Capital in the 2.0 Era

Managing Human Capital in the 2.0 Era

This is a great presentation about how 2.0 practices can transform your organization and make it sustainable in the current, 2.0 context.

Even in 2012, many businesses seem to forget that the social business in about the people not about the products. Human capital needs to understand what is a social business before you become a social business because chances are they won't follow the change. And what happens then? Well, your business can and will fail, after investing thousands of dollars to become a ''social business''. Saying that social business is business as usual is wrong. Social business asks for organizational change. Changing the patterns of doing business, of managing your people and the way your are treating your partners and customers. 

For more details on social business you can read this great article by Haydn Shaughnessy (Forbes) :

Why Social Business Will Fail (And How to Save It) http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2012/03/02/why-social-business-will-fail-and-how-to-save-it/ 

Analysis of Social Media Policies: Lessons and Best Practices

Analysis of Social Media Policies: Lessons and Best Practices

Image source: http://www.autorevo.com/search-engine-optimization/social-media-management

Even though this piece was written in Dec 2009 by Chris Boudreaux it still is a much interesting theme: how to empower staff to use social media and participate to online business growth while exercising some sort of governance over this empowerment-based global process. At least that's how we felt the document was particularly significant but we let you be the judge!

Social Media Governance : http://socialmediagovernance.com/downloads/Social-Media-Policy-Analysis.pdf

Best social business practices need to be clear enough for people to follow them, to participate and to engage actively online and at the same time should be able to regulate online communications in order to assure that the business' image and reputation is not harmed.

Google Plus: how to use it

Here is a great infographic by Chris Brogan that could be used as a basic training tool in how to use G+.

In fact it could be useful for tips on how to use social media accounts in general!

gplusinfographic

Chris Brogan brings humans and relations as a core social business value. It is not easy to make a living by telling businesses that they should stop putting their products before the people that work from them or the consumers that buy those products. We need more people that value the human experience in businesses and ask companies to C-A-R-E about people. That is what social business is ALL about. A network of people working together, connecting and interacting for a better tomorrow. 

Social media as marketing tools

SOME NICE TIPS: USING SOCIAL MEDIA AS MARKETING TOOLS

The autor suggests that if your current online presence and its center of command - your business website - is lacking in quality, using social media accounts to beef up your online leadership could help you but it won't save you.

4 Things Someone Needs to Tell You - Social Media Marketing

eRelations website: erelations.info

erelations.info

Our website is really taking shape, in fact it is perfectly functional. Go have a look and share your thoughts with us, here or on our website's integrated blog section!